In a tough year, it’s been a particularly rough last two months for us. After spending half of this year agonizing over if/how/when/where we were going to move out of our 600 sq ft basement, we finally moved, and that process ate up a good two to three months of our lives. Continue reading “Thankful: 2020 edition”
Everything I spent in 2018
The fact that it took me multiple tries of adding up numbers to get ones that were reasonably the same means I a) am not as much of a recovering perfectionist as I thought and b) probably need to slightly rethink my system of tracking numbers. I think a lot of it is inconsistency in categorization, which is frustrating but ultimately doesn’t affect the total (so I could’ve spent a way healthier ratio of time spent writing this post compared to spreadsheeting for this post ?♀️).
But, I am finally done spreadsheeting. And in total, I spent $28,629.03 in 2018. Continue reading “Everything I spent in 2018”
Twelve months of experiments: December 2018
Tl;dr thank goodness this damn experiment is finally over. Continue reading “Twelve months of experiments: December 2018”
Breaking my clothes shopping ban two months early
I own a lot of clothes. For years I was a serial clothes-buyer, accumulating a piece or five here and there at a low-level but steady rate whenever the urge struck to get a flowy summer dress or an oversized comfy sweater (y’all, I’m fighting that urge HARD right now, now that it’s finally fall in DC) or a cute new scarf. And then, last November, I got sick of paying off those transactions on my credit card and I just…stopped. (Stopped buying clothes, that is, not stopped paying off my credit card!)
I didn’t even realize until earlier this year that I’d been on an unofficial clothes buying ban, at which point I decided to make it official for the remaining six months (or beyond) of the year.[*]
But I broke my ban and bought clothes in September, two months shy of a full year. I was so close to making it a year! Here’s why. Continue reading “Breaking my clothes shopping ban two months early”
Adventures in decluttering, round one
Since January I’ve had a box in my room designated as the place to put things I’m getting rid of, and I’ve slowly been adding to it, one item at a time. And eventually that box got full. Hooray!
But said box then continued to sit in a corner of my room for months. I’ve mentioned it here multiple times, saying I need to empty it.
Why was that? One simple question. Continue reading “Adventures in decluttering, round one”
Decluttering more than things
Hey, y’all. Long time, no post. I spent much of the last few weeks in an exhausted stupor post-Glacier and then post-CampFI Midwest (Military Dollar, I blame you for part of that since you were in town and making me be sociable right before the exhaustion of CampFI!).
And last week while I was recovering from CampFI, my personal life kinda…threw up on me. That has zero relevance to this blog (because good lord am I trying to keep my blog persona and my offline life from completely melding), other than that on a day I ostensibly should’ve been writing, I was dealing with some things instead.
I think it’s a sign of maturity that instead of trying to push out posts like I probably would’ve done in the past, lately I’ve recognized that some nights I just need to get the hell in bed more or less on time instead of forcing myself to unproductively stare at my cursor blinking at me while I struggle to write (and likely stay up too late without even being able to finish a post).
Or maybe it’s laziness. ?♀️
Either way, I haven’t written very much in this last month, and, as it turns out, that’s exactly what I’m talking about today. Continue reading “Decluttering more than things”
An experiment in being on vacation
If you’ve spent any time with me, you know I walk quickly—I’m a woman on a mission with places to be! When I travel somewhere, the same is true. Before I go on a trip I research places I want to go and things I want to do and figure out how I can fit in the maximum possible number of things on said trip. Any of my travel posts demonstrate this very clearly, especially my trip to the Azores last year, where I was in charge of planning what we’d do.
In my current stage of life, I travel a lot, which ostensibly means I’m on vacation. But it’s hardly ever a relaxing vacation: these days if I’m traveling, I’m going somewhere new (in which case I have a list of places to visit) or I’m visiting friends (in which case I want to do things with them in their town). Sometimes both of those things overlap (see also Portland and LA and New Orleans), so bring on the packed itinerary!
The one exception to that trend is the beach, where my mom’s family has been going every summer for 30-something years and where I’ve now spent 27 weeks of my life, one for every summer I’ve been alive omg I’m so old. Continue reading “An experiment in being on vacation”
A Maximalist’s Guide to Minimalist Packing (guest post at Tiny Ambitions)
Remember that time I bought a 38 liter carry-on backpack right before my trip to the Azores? In the year since that purchase I’ve been experimenting with carry-on packing. And that’s been an interesting experience, especially given that I am very much not a minimalist (if you need a reminder of that, let me direct you to that photo of my desk!). Continue reading “A Maximalist’s Guide to Minimalist Packing (guest post at Tiny Ambitions)”
Twelve months of experiments: January 2018
When last I wrote, dear readers, I’d cliffhangered you at the end of the first of what’s likely to be an exhaustive series on how my first-ever request for a raise goes. I regret to inform you that today’s post is not a continuation of that series, which is something you’d probably surmised from the title.
Instead, since it’s a new month (also my birthday month! I suppose turning 26 means my quarter-life crisis will be over, right?), here’s an end of month update on the challenges I took on in January. I was decluttering, doing a no-spend/uber frugal month challenge, a barre challenge, and still trying to meditate every day.
In case that sounds like an overwhelming number of things to do all at once, may I remind you how the last bit of my first post of 2018, which laid out the four challenges I was doing, ended?
Ridiculously overly ambitious? We shall see!
In a surprise to absolutely no one, turned out it was ridiculously overly ambitious! Continue reading “Twelve months of experiments: January 2018”
How I’m starting off the year
Hello, and Happy New Year, friends! (Are you tired of hearing that yet?)
I thought about jumping into 2018 with my December spending report, but instead I’m going super-topical and talking about resolutions. Or, more specifically, a lack of them.
I’m doing something new and not setting resolutions this year. Sure, I’m setting money goals, and like I said in that post, I have personal goals I’d like to work on this year. But typically every year I’ve set resolutions, so this is a weird departure from the norm for me. Continue reading “How I’m starting off the year”